Sherrod Brown plans Iowa trip as top aide accelerates 2020 prep

Source: Politico

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is preparing the biggest step yet toward a potential presidential campaign: a trip to Iowa in the coming weeks, which is in the final stages of planning and will soon be announced, according to four people with knowledge of the trip.

Going to Iowa would be the latest signal from Brown and his wife, Connie Schultz, that he is considering a White House run organized around the “dignity of work,” the theme of his reelection campaign last year. But preparations go beyond public statements as Brown’s longtime aide and current chief of staff, Sarah Benzing works backstage to set up a campaign — with a particular focus on Iowa, where she grew up and worked on a series of congressional, Senate and presidential efforts earlier in her career.

Benzing, who was the top staffer on Brown’s 2012 Senate campaign, is in line to manage Brown’s presidential campaign, should he pull the trigger, according to people with knowledge of the planning. And she has spent the weeks since Brown's reelection to the Senate — casting his win as a “blueprint for America for 2020” before supporters in Ohio — calling her Iowa network, seeking advice and operatives to staff a Brown presidential bid.

Benzing’s calls range from prospecting for field and digital organizers who worked for Fred Hubbell, the just-defeated Democratic candidate for governor of Iowa, to sounding out veteran operatives and friends like former Rep. Dave Nagle and Jessica Vanden Berg, a longtime friend who is also an experienced House and Senate campaign manager and a state director on past Democratic presidential campaigns. The outreach has extended to other early presidential states, including Nevada.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/11/sherrod-brown-2020-iowa-1090314